St. Landry democrat., 1887-02-12
NOT A DELUSION.
Sermon by Rev. T. De Witt Tai
mage, D. D.
now Millions OF the Human Race Have
Been Deluded" into Better Lives
and Brighter Hopes-A Few
Notable Examples.

4ian Religion a Cheats" was the subject Of
DR.. Talmage's sermon this morning. He
took for his text part of the twenty-frst
verse of the twonty first chapter of Ezekiel:
ale made his arrows bright, he consulted
with images, he looked in the liver" Tho
sermon was as follows:
Two modes of divinaton by which the
King of Babylon proposed to find out the will
of God: He took a bundle of arrows, put
them together, mixed them up, then pulled
forth one and by the inscription on 1T de-
cided which city he should first assault.
Then an animal was slain, and by tho
lighter or darker color of the liver the
brighter or darker prospect of success was
inferred. That is the meaning Of the text:
"He made his arrows bright, he consulted
with images, he looked in the liver"
Stupid delusion! And yet all the ages
have been filed with delusions. 1t seems
as if the world loves to be hood Winked;
the delusion of the text is only specimen
OF a vast number of deceits practiced upon
the human race.
In the latter part of the last century Jo-
hanna Southcote came forth pretending to
have Divine power, made prophesies, had
chapels built in her honor, and one hundred
thousand disciples came forth to follow
Christ Apollonlus was born, and he came
forth, and after five years being speeches.,
according to the tradition, he healed the
sick and raised the dead and preached Writ
ue, and, according to the myth, having
deceased, was brought to resurrection
The Delphic Oracle deceived vast null
titudes of people-the Pythoness, seated in
the temple of Appolo, tutoring a crazy
jargon from which the people guessed or
misguessed their individual or national
fortunes or misfortunes. The utterances
were Of such nature that you could read
them any way'you wanted to read them. A
General, going forth to battle, consulted
the Delphic Oracle, and he wanted to find
out whether he "5as going to be safe in the
battle or killed in the battle, and the
answer came forth from the Delphic
Oracle in such words that, if you put the
comma before the word 'tnever," it means
one thing, and if you put the comma after
the word ''never," 1T means another thing
just opposite. The message from the
Delphic Oracle to the General was: ''Go
forth, return never in battle shalt thou
perish" If he was killed, that was &C
cordlng to the nelphic Oracle; if he came
home safely, that was according to the
Delphic Oracle.
So the ancient auguries deceived the peo-
pie. The priests of those auguries, by the
fight of birds, or by the information of thun-
der, or by the inside appearance of slain
animals, told the fortunes or misfortunes
of individuals or nations. The sibyls de-
ceived the people. The sibyls were sup
posed to be inspired women who lived In
caves and who wrote the sibylline books,
afterwards purchased by Tarquin the
Proud So late as the year 1929 man
arose in New York, pretending to be Di-
vine being, ana played his part SO well
chat wealthy merchants became his disci-
Piles and threw their fortunes into his dis.
cipieship.
And SO in all ages there have been NEGRO.
mancies, lamentations, witchcrafts, sorcer-
les, magical arts, entertainments, divina-
tons and delusions. The one of the
text was only specimen of that which
has been Transporting in all ages of the
world. None of these decisions accom-
plished any good; they deceived, they
pauperized the people, they were as cruel
as they were absurd; they opened no hos
pitfalls, they healed no wounds, they wiped
away no tears, they emancipate no serf-
dom
But there are those who say that all these
decisions combined are as nothing COM
pared with the delusion now abroad in the
world-the delusion of the Christian re-
igion. That deluslon has to-day two hum
dred million dupes. 1t proposes to encircle
the earth with its girdle. That which has
been called delusion has already over
Swallowed the Appalachian range on this
side Of the sea, and it has overshadoWed
the Bal kan and Caucasian ranges On the
other side the sea; it has con-
quered England and the United
States. This champion delusion, this
hoax, this swindle of the ages, as it has
been called, has gone forth to conquer the
islands of the Pacific; the Melanasia and
the Micronesia and Malayan Polynesia
have already surrendered to the delusion.
Yea, it has conquered the indian archi-
pelago, and Borneo, and Sumatra, and
Celebes and Java have fallen under it's
wiles. In the FIJI Islands, where there are
$4,000 people, 1G2, 600 have already become
the dupes of this Christian religion, and If
things go on as they are now going on, and
il the influence of this great hallucination
Of the ages can not be stopped, it will
swallow the globe.
Surprising, then, that Christianity is the
delusion of the centuries, as some have
pronounced it, propose this morning to
show you what has been accomplished by !
this chimera, this fallacy, this hoax, this !
swindle Of the ages.
In the first place. remark that this de-
fusion of the Christian religion has made
wonderful transformations Of human char
acter. / will go down the aisle of any
church in Christendom, and will find on |
either side that aisle those who were once |
pronlgate, profane, unclean Of speech and |
unciean OF action, drunken and lost. But |
Dy the power Of this delusion Of the Chris |
Iian religion they have been completely |
tran sformed, and now they are kind and |
amiabie, and genial and loving, and useful.
fverypody sees the change. Under the
power OF this great hallucination they have |
quo tnear former associates, and |
whereas they once found their chief de- |
light among those who gambled and swoce,
ana raced horses, now they find their
chief Joy among those who 90 to prayer
= ana churches, so complete is this
aelusion. Yea, their own families have |
noticed it: the wife has noticed 4. tbe |